Timeline of Women’s Suffrage Granted, by Country

New Zealeand was the first country to allow women to vote (1893), which the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia granted women the right to vote in 2011. The United States finally began allowing women to vote in 1920, after the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

1893

New Zealand

1902

Australia*

1906

Finland

1913

Norway

1915

Denmark

1916

Canada**

1918

Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia

1919

Netherlands

1920

United States

1921

Sweden

1928

Britain

1929

Equador

1931

Spain

1934

Turkey

1944

France

1945

Italy

1947

Argentina, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan

1949

China

1950

India

1954

Colombia

1956

Egypt

1957

Malaysia, Zimbabwe

1962

Algeria

1963

Iran, Morocco

1964

Libya

1971

Switzerland

1972

Bangladesh

1974

Jordan

1976

Portugal

1988

Namibia

1990

Western Samoa

1993

Kazahkstan, Moldova

1994

South Africa

2005

Kuwait

2006

United Arab Emirates

2011

Saudi Arabia

1922

Republic of Ireland

NOTES: *Australia women, with the exception of aboriginal women, won the vote in 1902. Aborigines, male and female, did not have the right to vote until 1962.
**Canadian women, with the exception of Canadian First Nation women, won the vote in 1917. Canadian First Nation, male and female, did not win the vote until 1960.Source: The New York Times, May 22, 2005.